Police Chief Flynn argues for assault weapon ban at Senate hearing

Washington, D.C. – Testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn called on Congress to pass a ban on new sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines to civilians, saying “our nation’s cities are enduring slow-motion mass murder every single year.”

Flynn was one of several witnesses to appear at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on “The Assault Weapons Ban of 2013,” a bill authored by Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California.

Flynn cited Milwaukee crime data and invoked specific incidents in the city in recent years involving the use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. He said that in less than three years, seven of his officers were shot with assault rifles or semi-automatic weapons.

"How many people have to get murdered in a mass murder for it to be enough?" Flynn said toward the end of his testimony, invoking the Newtown, Conn., massacre in December.

"Is 20 babies enough to say these implements of murder should not be distributed? That's what we're asking!" Flynn said in comments that drew applause from those in the audience who were there to support the bill. Flynn also engaged in some pointed exchanges with at least one Republican on the panel, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham.

A ban on some semi-automatic weapons is one of several steps to curb gun violence being debated on Capitol Hill, in the wake of Newtown. Several family members of victims in that incident attended Wednesday's hearing, and the father of one victim also spoke during a sometimes emotional morning of testimony.

The legislation faces a great deal of opposition in the GOP-controlled House. Its prospects in the Democratic-controlled Senate are unclear as well.

A 10-year assault weapons ban enacted in 1994 lapsed when Congress failed to renew it, amid criticism that the distinctions it drew between legal and illegal semi-automatic weapons were arbitrary.

Opponents of the bill are also using that argument against a ban this time. Iowa Republican Charles Grassley said at Wednesday’s hearing that the previous ban had little impact on gun violence. He said the proposed new prohibition would “ban guns solely on their appearance.”

He and other Republicans argued the government should instead do more to enforce current laws, including prosecuting people who provide false information when they undergo background checks to buy guns.

When Graham, the South Carolina Republican, asked Flynn how many cases he had pursued against people who failed background checks, Flynn responded sharply:

“We don’t make those cases. We have priorities. We have gun cases. We make 2,000 gun cases a year … We’re trying to prevent the wrong people from buying guns,” Flynn said. “We don’t chase paper, we chase armed criminals.”

Flynn said of the ban drafted by Feinstein:

“This bill does not take guns out of the hands of Americans. It does not strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights. The (objections) raised here have more to do with commerce than they do with the Second Amendment … A lot of people make a lot of money selling firearms and ammunition.”

At a breakfast meeting with reporters in Washington on Wednesday, House Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia reiterated his opposition to an assault-weapons ban, saying the previous ban was based on the cosmetic features of semi-automatic rifles. He said gun rights shouldn’t be burdened when there’s little evidence that the earlier ban made a difference.

Flynn rejected the argument that past studies showed no effect from the ban, saying those studies may not have established a causal link by social science standards between the prohibition and lower gun violence, but that from his experience, it helped.

“Can I show causation? No. Is there correlation? Yes,” Flynn said.

Feinstein said the earlier ban was meant to "dry up supply over time," but had to be sunsetted after 10 years to get the votes needed for passage, and suggested that limited its impact.

In thanking Flynn for his testimony, she called him a "cop's cop."

“It’s time for Congress to pick a side," Flynn said at the hearing. "This time I hope it’s law enforcement.”